The present application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-320985, which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an illumination device. The present invention may be preferably applied to illumination of a box-shaped container such a glove box, console box or ash tray arranged in a compartment of an automobile. Further, the present invention may be preferably applied to illumination of a refrigerator entrance door, living room door, shoe box or dressing case having an opening and closing section. Also, the present invention may be preferably applied to illumination of a place having an opening and closing section.
2. Related Art
Visibility of things accommodated in a glove box of an automobile is enhanced by illuminating the inside of the glove box. For example, the following structure is well known. A light source unit, in which a light bulb is installed, is arranged on a side wall of the glove box, and the inside of the glove box is illuminated by light emitted from the light source unit. According to this structure, electric power consumption of the light bulb is large and a large quantity of heat is generated when the light bulb is lit. Further the life of the light bulb is generally short. Therefore, it is not preferable to light the light bulb at all times. For the above reasons, it is common to provide a switching mechanism for controlling a state of turning on and off interlockingly to the light bulb. For example, a switching mechanism is used in which the light bulb is turned on and off interlockingly with the opening and closing motion of the glove box lid. Using the above switching mechanism, when the glove box lid is opened, light emitted from the light source can be illuminated so that the visibility can be enhanced, and when the glove box lid is closed, the light bulb can be turned off. Therefore, inconvenience caused by the above bulb characteristic can be avoided.
However, when the above electric switching mechanism is used, the entire structure becomes complicated undesirably, and further the manufacturing cost is increased because the terminal members used for the switching mechanism are expensive.
On the other hand, there is proposed an illumination device in which LED is used as a light source instead of a light bulb. LED is advantageous in that the electric power consumption is small and the life is long and further the calorific value is low. Therefore, it is possible to light LED at all times. Accordingly, it is possible to omit the above switching mechanism which is necessary when the light bulb is used. Specifically, when LED is arranged at a position so that the inside of the glove box is illuminated by LED and when the LED light source is lit at all times or the LED light source is lit interlockingly with the position lamp, the inside of the glove box can be illuminated when the lid of the glove box is opened, and when the glove box lid is closed, although the LED light source is lit, light emitted from the LED light source can be shielded by the glove box lid. Therefore, even when the switching mechanism is not provided, only when the glove box is opened, the inside of the glove box can be illuminated. The illumination device in which LED is used as a light source can provide the above illumination effect.
However, since it is common that the body and lid of the glove box are manufactured separately from each other and assembled to each other after the completion of the manufacture process, it is difficult to compose the glove box in such a manner that no gap is formed between the glove box body and the lid. It is possible to prevent the formation of the above gap when both are manufactured and assembled with high accuracy. Although the formation of the above gap is prevented in the above way, the manufacturing cost is increased and the manufacturing process becomes complicated. Even if the glove box body and lid are manufactured with high accuracy and no gap is formed between them at the beginning of use, the positional relation between them is delicately changed or they are deformed, so that the formation of a gap is gradually increased, which causes leakage of light emitted from the LED light source. The above leakage of light deteriorates the design of the illumination device. Further, the above leakage of light unnecessarily illuminates the periphery, which is not preferable.
The present invention has been accomplished to solve the above problems. It is an object to provide an is illumination device or lighting method, the constitution of which is simple, capable of effectively illuminating a box-shaped container such as a glove box.
In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides an illumination device comprising: an LED light source; and a shutter member arranged on the light emitting side of the LED light source, capable of changing a mode of light illuminating the outside when a position of the shutter member is changed by slide or rotation.
Owing to the above construction, when the shutter member is slid or rotated, it is possible to change a mode of light emitted from the LED light source to the outside. Accordingly, when the device is composed in such a manner that the shutter member is slid or rotated interlockingly with an opening and closing motion of the lid of an accommodating member (for example, a glove box of an automobile), the illuminating mode of light can be changed synchronously with the opening and closing motion of the lid. When the illuminating mode of light is changed in the above way, illumination can be effectively performed. For example, only when the lid is opened, light emitted from the LED light source can be sent outside. That is, the illuminating mode can be changed interlockingly with the opening and closing motion of the lid by a simple mechanism in which the shutter member is slid or rotated. In this way, it is possible to compose an illumination device capable of providing a high illumination effect by a simple structure.
The LED light source is characterized in that the electric power consumption is small, the calorific value is low and the life is long. Therefore, the LED light source is appropriately used for continuously lighting a light over a long period of time. Further, since the size of the LED light source is small, the entire illumination device can be downsized. Therefore, the illumination device can be placed freely. The type of LED is not particularly limited. Various type of LED such as a round type LED, a chip type LED and so forth may be adopted.
The luminescent color of the LED light source is not particularly limited to a specific color. For example, it is possible to adopt an LED light source, the luminescent wave-length of which is in the visible region such as red, orange, green, blue and so forth. It is also possible to adopt an LED light source, the luminescent wave-length of which is in the ultraviolet region. In this case, it is possible to adopt such a composition that fluorescent material is contained in the surface material of an object to be illuminated (inner wall of the glove box), and the fluorescent body emits fluorescent light so as to provide an illumination effect. Further, it is possible to adopt such a composition that fluorescent material is contained in a portion of the shutter member described later and light emitted from LED is illuminated via the portion of the shutter member so as to generate fluorescent light. Furthermore, it is possible to use a photocatalyst. When light is illuminated on the photocatalyst, it is possible to provide a photocatalytic effect such as an antibacterial effect or deodorization effect. For example, a layer containing a photocatalyst is provided on the surface of the shutter member described later, and the layer containing a photocatalyst is illuminated when the shutter member is put into a specific state. Furthermore, an object to which the illumination device of the present invention is attached may contain a photocatalyst so that the object can provide a photocatalytic effect by light emitted outside. Owing to the foregoing, it is possible to build a system capable of providing a photocatalytic effect. In this connection, it is possible to use an LED light emitting source from which light in the visible and ultraviolet region is emitted.
In this connection, the LED light source may be composed of a plurality of LEDs which are combined with each other. In this case, a plurality of LEDs of the same type may be used. Alternatively, LED of different luminescent colors may be combined with each other. When a plurality of LEDs are used, it becomes possible to enhance luminance, and further it becomes possible to conduct illumination by various luminescent colors. In this connection, the number of LED to be used can be determined by a range to be illuminated and luminance to be required.
The shutter member is arranged on the light emitting side of the LED light source and slid or rotated so that the position of the shutter member can be changed. When the position of the shutter member is changed, light emitted from the LED light source is totally shielded, partially shielded, transmitted and color-converted, so that the mode to be illuminated outside can be changed.
As a shutter member, it is possible to adopt one on which an optical window is partially provided. When this shutter member is put into the first state, light of the LED light source is illuminated outside via the window. When this shutter member is put into the second state, light of the LED light source is illuminated on a portion other than the above optical window and the light is shielded. Accordingly, by a simple motion such as a movement of the shutter member, it is possible to make a mode in which light is illuminated outside, and it is also possible to make a mode in which light is not emitted outside. Incidentally, a state of the shutter member means a position or angle of rotation of the shutter member.
Further, when a plurality of windows whose transmittance values with respect to the light emitted from the LED light source are different from each other are arranged, luminance of light illuminating outside can be changed by changing the position of the shutter member. For example, the following constitution can be adopted. There is provided a first window capable of transmitting a portion of light emitted from the LED light source, that is, there is provided a first window, the transmittance of which is not 100% with respect to the light emitted from the LED light source. There is also provided a second window capable of transmitting all light emitted from the LED light source, that is, there is provided a second window, the transmittance of which is 100% with respect to light emitted from the LED light source. When the shutter member is put into the first state, the light is emitted outside via the first window, and when the shutter member is put into the second state, the light is emitted outside via the second window. In this case, the window of predetermined transmittance can be provided in such a manner that, for example, a through-hole is formed on a portion of the shutter member, and the through-hole is covered with a film of predetermined transmittance, or the through-hole is filled with resin of predetermined transmittance. In this connection, the number of windows whose transmittance values are different from each other is not limited to two but the number of windows may be three or more.
It is possible to adopt a shutter member, the color of light illuminating outside of which is changed when the shutter member is moved. For example, an optical window is provided in a portion of the shutter member, and a color-conversion sheet (for example, a film colored by a predetermined color) is set so that the color-conversion sheet can cover the optical window. Alternatively, the window concerned is filled with resin which is colored by a predetermined color. When the device is designed in such a manner that light emitted from the LED light source is illuminated in the through-hole when the shutter member is located at a specific position, light, the color of which is different from the original luminescent color of the LED light source, can be emitted outside. In this connection, it is possible to provide a plurality of optical windows in the shutter member and apply color-conversion sheets of different colors to the respective optical windows.
When a plurality of optical windows, the sizes of which are different from each other, are provided in the shutter member, it is possible to change an illumination range of light illuminated outside via the shutter member. For example, the first window is arranged at a position where light of the LED light source is illuminated when the shutter member is put into the first state, and the second window, which is smaller than the first window, is arranged at a position where light of the LED light source is illuminated when the shutter member is put into the second state. Owing to the above structure, when the slide member is put into the second state, the illumination range of light illuminating outside is reduced as compared with a case in which the slide member is put into the first state. In this connection, when the windows of different sizes are not provided but windows, the sizes of which continuously change stepwise, are provided, the illumination range described above can be also changed as describe above. The illumination device of the present invention can be applied to a box-shaped container having a movable section such as a lid or door. Examples of the box-shaped container are a glove box of an automobile, console box, slide type glove box and ash tray. The illumination device of the present invention can be also applied toan entrance door, living room door, refrigerator, shoe box and dressing case for residence use.
When the illumination device of the present invention is used, it is installed so that the shutter member can be slid or rotated interlockingly with the movable section such as a lid or door of the container which is an object to which the present invention is applied. For example, by using an elastic force of a spring, when the door is opened, the shutter member is fixed at the first position. When the door is closed, the door comes into contact with a portion of the shutter member, and a force in the opposite direction to the elastic force of the spring is acted. Owing to the foregoing, the shutter member is slid or rotated and moved to the second position.
In the case where the present invention is applied to a slide type accommodation member (for example, a slide type glove box of an automobile), the shutter member can be composed so that illuminating modes of multiple stages can be obtained according to the position of the movable section (for example, the slide tray) of the accommodating member. For example, when a shutter member having a plurality of optical windows, the diameters of which are gradually extended from one end to the other end, is adopted, it is possible to provide an illumination device in which luminance of illumination light to illuminate the outside or an illumination range is changed stepwise according to the change in the slide tray.